Mom dresses baby in new Halloween costume every day in October

My friends Audrey and Brendon enjoy Halloween. A LOT. When Audrey found out she was pregnant, she confessed she had a plan to make her baby’s first Halloween extra-memorable:

Every day for the month of October, she planned to dress her little bundle of joy in a different Halloween costume then post the pictures to her Instagram account.

Imagine my delight when I went on Instagram October 1 and discovered her announcement wasn’t just pregnancy-related delusions of grandeur: Every day this month Audrey and Brendon’s 6-month-old daughter, Sullivan Mae (affectionately nicknamed Sully) has modeled a different costume, from the glam to cute to the funny. Some of the costumes are store-bought, some have been made, and some have been assembled from preexisting and new pieces, and all are totally spooktacular.

Sullivan Mae , aka”Sully” dressed as The Little Mermaid.

“I started working on this in September,” Audrey said via phone from Petaluma. “I just got a few outfits at first and it actually grew into this bigger thing where I knew I had to go the whole 31 days. I never intended it to be as huge as it is, but when people started telling me how much they liked it and looked forward to seeing what Sully was wearing every day it just got bigger and bigger. People from all over are commenting on the pictures now.”

Among Sully’s most popular looks are her scarlet-haired and green-finned Little Mermaid, her creepy kooky Wednesday Addams, a fake tatted mini-me of her dad, Brendon, and a unibrowed Frida Kahlo complete with toy monkey.

“Frida has definitely been a popular favorite,” Audrey said, “I think Frida and Cruella de Vil are actually my top two but it’s so hard to choose!”

Sully as artist Frida Kahlo, a fan favorite.

Audrey said that the split between store bought costumes and costumes she made is about 50/50, given how time-intensive making some of the costumes can be. She’s had some help from family, with her mom, Lisa snagging a few elements from Sonoma kids’ store “Half Pint” to complete Sully’s Cruella. Among the most signature elements of Sully’s costumes is her frequent donning of wigs.

“You can never be too young to start a wig collection,” said Audrey, who grew up in San Francisco and attended many Castro Halloween and Gay Pride celebrations as a child. “Sully just loves them, she’s a total natural.”

The family plans to keep costumes as part of their holiday traditions beyond Halloween. Audrey is already plotting a combination holiday look for December and next Halloween “We might explore some of the same costumes, but she’ll be walking next year and we can really go wild. We’ll do props, sets, maybe even other babies in costumes.” When asked if her other mommy friends are intimidated by how high she’s raised the Halloween bar Audrey said actually, it’s quite the opposite.

“It inspired some of my mommy friends,” Audrey said. “We do a playgroup once a week, and this Thursday it’s going to be costume themed.” Sully will wear her Little Mermaid look again “and all the other mommies are doing sea costumes for their babies.”

To see the full range of Sully’s looks (so far) click through the gallery above. Follow on Instagram @SullyMaeMom